Maintenance

[bankernclt]

With most of the other major’s talking about outsourcing heavy maintenance, I was wondering if Delta does the same or if this was being considered?

 

[DalMD88]

Actually Delta is looking into bringing more work inhouse. We are actively searching for contract work. We currently have long term contracts with ABX, US Navy, and World Airways. We also a a Boeing BBJ contractor. Rumor has it we are being very aggressive in getting the USAF 767 Tanker contract. Our engine shops have been a major source of revenue for quite some time. Our PW2000 line is possibly the most effiecent in the industry. Work has just begun on opening a line for CRJ engines (I can't remember what they are right now).

I really don't understand the logic at UAL. With a fleet as large as theirs it just doesn't make sense to pay someone else to work on your planes. Well I guess if you send them to some third world company that pays in slave wages you would save money, but at what cost? I guess aircraft maintenance will go the way of sneakers and small appliances. What a bright future America has. "Welcome to WalMart!" Just practicing for my next career.

 

[AAmech]

DL is able to do it because they're not tied down with silly unproductive work rules. My own observation is that we tresure those about as much as we do pay and benifits.

 

[Chicken Taco]

The CRJ engine is the GE CF34. It would make sense for DL to do these in house, as there are more of them on-wing between Comair and ASA than any single engine type in the entire DL mainline fleet.

In general in-house work is the way to go as long as the costs can be reasonably controlled. At CHQ we outsourced heavy checks for a while when the ERJ's were new and spent almost as long fixing each plane when it came back as the heavy check took in the first place. Now we have 3 full-time heavy check lines processing 5-6 planes a month and the quality control is excellent.

DL gets a higher quality by doing heavy work in house, because the employees doing the checks have a vested interest in putting out good work. Crappy work in-house means you have to redo it yourself and your profit sharing, bonus, or stock will directly suffer. Crappy contract work means a faster turn around for the contractor on what's likely a fixed-fee project, so they have incentive to be sloppy. The downtime still costs the operator when the plane comes back to straighten it out, thereby ofsetting the savings of using the lousy contractor in the first place..

..CT